The biggest reason I much prefer is The Amazing Race to Survivor is that each season is truly different from the last one on TAR (unlike Survivor). Let me clarify that before the Survivor fans go out and shoot me

What I mean is, because the tasks on TAR are so locale-specific, it's a new experience for each season, and even every episode! That goes both for us viewers and the contestants. Survivor, well, new locale every season. But the game is so much about conspiracies, alliances, etc., the fundamentals of which haven't changed all that much.

1) The action is more intense and hour-long on TAR - the competition is always in play, versus twice per episode on Survivor intermingled with a lot of laying around and whining.

2) You're responsible for your own fortune. Of course, luck has a lot to do with it, just as in real life, but you aren't going to be eliminated just because you're on the wrong end of an alliance, or you say something politically incorrect to the wrong person.

3) The places the teams visit are extremely interesting, and change every week. I always see a place and say "I'd like to visit there!" - On Survivor, it's just a beach and jungle, the country changes, but it's always pretty much the same.

4) I like the idea that you have someone with you that you know previously. To rely on or to hinder you, you've made the conscious choice before the game.

5) I like Phil better than Jeff.

6) There aren't nearly as many people spoiling TAR, and in fact there isn't much necessity in it. Knowing if a leg is an elimination or not is about the most you'll ever know about an episode in advance.

7) The producers rarely tease us with "explosive revelations" or "major twists" and then fail to deliver. If they say something major happens, it almost always does.

I really think TAR stands in a category all by itself as far as "unscripted programming" (that's what I'm calling it from now on as many of these shows out there that consider themselves part of the reality genre have nothing to do with reality IMO).

The main reason I enjoy TAR more (and it's the same reason I enjoyed Combat Missions so much) is that it truly is a competition (like football for instance ). The last person to the mat in each episode is eliminated. It's not a popularity contest, and while mini-alliances can be formed during parts of that race, that is not what is going to propel you to victory.